*Prologue Start*
In the flames of a ruined city he walks, from a distance just a man in a black trenchcoat with messy hair with a gun in his left hand walking aimlessly.
But if you were to look in his eyes the only words to describe it would be a man would had followed an unswerving ideal and at the end of his path found only despair
He had lost everything in his search for that power. Thrown himself into a secret three way battle between some of the most powerful magi families; the Matou, Tohsaka and Eizenbern's for the greatest prize of all.
With the help of his beloved Iri, he should have been able to do it, to take the prize from underneath all of them and finally reach that distant place he had been striving for.
But he failed and then….
They came
He did not know how they found out, despite being enemies. All of the families knew that to alert any of those three powers would be foolishness of the highest order.
If they got their hands on it, the world would instantly shift destroying the fragile balance that the magicians were all aware of and that Kiritsugu Emiya had fought and kill so many to maintain.
In the end all their secrecy was for naught and on Fuyuki City hordes of Angels, Demons and Fallen descended.
It was as if the world was punishing him for his insolence in seeking that which does not exist. By not only making sure that the power he was looking for was just out of his reach but that his efforts to get it would ignite something he had spent decades trying to prevent.
A resurgence of that Great War in which even beings of great power died as easily as mortal men and even God fell.
He did not know why he continued there was nothing he could do, no road to peace, no path to that ever distant dream nothing but a city of the dead burning from the clashes between the three powers. He felt that item of great power in his chest react, try to push him onward but as he saw the death surrounding him he knew that he could no longer let that item guide him, not if this was the price.
"Emiya where is it" He looked up to see a fallen angel looking at him with a spear of light in his hands, he saw that this Fallen had four sets of wings placing him as someone high up in Grigori not on the level of any of the leaders but still powerful, more powerful than a mere human magi. Not that he was planning fighting, no what was the point? After all….
"It is gone"
"Gone? How could it be gone! We know you and the other magicians were fighting over it and someone like you would never lose it after coming so close"
Staring into that Fallen's eye "I never said it was lost, I said it was gone"
The Fallen tried to comprehend what this human was talking about, was he was implying was ridiculous for it meant that not only were they too late to acquire it and the fighting between the three factions was meaningless but that the item that could have changed the world itself was now…
"…How?"
"Me."
He looked into that human's eyes and found no lies, just desolation that rivalled that of the Fallen themselves when they first lost God's grace
"You Destroyed IT! You, a mere human destroyed that which countless fallen, angels and devil would die to obtain! It was the key to renewing the balance! With that, with the Holy Grail everything could have been fixed!" the fallen screamed in rage
He saw the Fallen understandably lose control at the revelation but honestly did not care, soon he would die there was nothing he could…would do. Everything he had done to find a path to salvation had led to this, a place where there was no one left to save.
As he saw the Fallen create a spear of light in his fury that would have made Azazel proud, Kiritsugu thought about his daughter who he would never see again regardless of whether he died today or not and wished he could beg her forgiveness for destroying their family in pursuit of his ideals.
Embracing… no desiring death Emiya felt his eyes drift towards movement farther away, another member of the three powers? Then he felt his eyes widen as he beheld a boy in the distance who had somehow survived in a place where even he, a magus with a relic of immeasurable power inside of him would hesitate to enter.
He did not remember clearly what happened, but a shot rang through the air and the gun that was by his side was for some reason aimed at the fallen, smoke billowing out of it. The fallen looked confused as the spear of light he had been creating disappeared but thenhis body was suddenly ravaged by his own energy and he plummeted to the earth
Kiritsugu didn't care however, his attention was on the boy who against all odds somehow survived in this place
His heart nearly stop when he saw the child stumble and then fall in the ground, the world around him burning in fires that would make Hell's seem lukewarm.
Rushing he saw the boy slowly raise his hand to the sky, as if to gently brush the sky one last time and just as the hand was about to lose strength and fall…He reached the boy and grabbed the hand as if trying to keep this child safe in a place where even the illusion of safety seemed ridiculous.
As he looked at this child who he had somehow managed to save despite abandoning his ideals, tears filled his eyes and a happiness he could not describe filled him, surpassing even that glimpse of a lush tranquil domain that had supported him for so long.
The boy stared at him with blank eyes before reaching some kind of conclusion and quietly losing consciousness. With a sudden fear in his heart Kiritsugu saw that this boy's body was heavily damaged and even taking him to a hospital would be dangerous, but he had to save him! He had too!
Once more he cursed that he had devoted himself to killing and abandoned learning any healing magic, not that he needed it with…
NO.
"Yes. Kiritsugu, you know what you must do to save this child. With my help this boy will live. I give you my word"
"Do you mean to find another puppet to fulfil your dream" Kiritsugu shouted at a voice only he could hear "a child? One who has already lost so much because of it? I know you can heal the boy without creating a permanent bond so please" He begged "for all the suffering our dream has brought to this child"
For a moment there was silence and he thought that he had actually won before he heard something that crushed him
"Kiritsugu I do wish for this boy to take your place but not just for my dream but to heal him of those wounds that cannot be seen, only felt"
"What are you…?"
"What he has gone through this night and what he has done to survive in a place magi wouldn't dare to tread, has broken him in ways you cannot hope to understand. This child has been distorted and this world cannot help him. But I can. Avalon can"
Faced with the decision to either let this boy be saved only to go down a terrible path or let this one life that he could save vanished, Kiritsugu Emiya made his choice. Taking a shuddering breath, the Hero of Sacrifice spoke
"Make an oath with me, one that you will follow for as long as you and this child are together"
"Avalon can be beholden to no one Kiritsugu, you know that" the voice said sadly
"I'm not asking Avalon, I'm asking you, the person who knows more than anyone….even me the pains that come with this path"
"What is the oath" Closing his eyes he told her
"…..Yes I will follow it, for as long as I and this child are connected I swear to follow this oath and guide this child"
"Then it is done" with a tear stained face, he put his hand on his chest and from there he drew out a magnificent golden sheath with blue enamel and place it inside the child hoping that he had not damned a life he tried to save to the eternal meaningless search for that ever distant utopia.
The boy awoke, eyes snapping open as he took a deep breath, the first of his new life
White. The room was a pale eggshell white and the air was filled with that strange sterilized scent that all hospitals seem to have that prickled his nose which adorable wrinkled
Still all in all everything seemed a good deal better than where he was previously. The memory of the destruction was still fresh in his mind. Explosions that came out of nowhere to envelop those around him that where begging for salvation. Winged creatures fighting in the sky not caring about the effects their powers would have on those beneath them. Fires started by the chaos and destruction they causes consuming any who tried to get away from them.
None of this was important to him
The only thing that mattered was that man
The one who came when he had nothing left to sacrifice and his small body finally collapsed
The man who had looked at this shattered remnant of a child and wept tears of pure joy
He wondered why that man was so happy.
Then he looked into his eyes and realized it was because….because that man was able to save a life
His life
He wanted to know more about that man he wanted to know if…..if he could be that happy
*End Prologue*
New Fuyuki
Kuoh Academy
Focusing on the inner working of the air conditioner outside of the kendo room, Shirou Emiya quickly identified the problem was just that the filter and coils were dirty which thankfully did not require an expert's help to fix. With a rag he cleaned the coils and placed the casing back on when he heard a loud noise coming from the inside of the school building before a trio of boys flew out the nearby door in a heap.
"Did you idiots really think you could get away with peaking on us" a loud female voice said in a huff.
Shiro of course recognized the voice of the kendo member and classmate Murayama and also the identity of the boys…no perverts that were now in a broken pile.
This may seem a bit rude for Shirou to think that but those three; Issei, Matsuda and Motohama were such that their very existence could only be summed up as perverted
Suddenly Shirou saw all the female members of the kendo club come out armed with their shinai aimed at the Peverted trio
"Any last words punks" Murayama asked readying her kendo stance at the three ,her killing intent rising
Feeling that this might result in a multiple homicide Shirou decided to intervene, which some might say would not be the smartest move but Shirou never pretended to be particular intelligent
"Um Murayama-san could you refrain from hurting them'
Shifting her shinai towards me "Shirou what are you doing here? Wait…..have you fallen into depravity like these pieces of trash"
"Please I was just fixing that air conditioner, it wasn't working so the Kendo Supervisor asked me to take a look at it"
Some of the kendo club looked at him sceptically but Murayama and Ise just nodded their heads
"Yeah that sounds like you Shirou" the two of them said in unison, drawing Murayama's attention back towards Ise, who looked like he was regretting inputting into the situation
"Wait are you actually going to believe this guy?" one of the sceptical members asked
"If it was anyone else, of course not but this guy's the fake janitor, fixing stuff is his thing" with that the confused member face light up in understanding at Shirou's nickname which most people knew even if they didn't know his face.
"I just like it when things work to their best that's all"
"Anyway why do you want to help these perverts, humans shouldn't try to protect worms"
"Hey….."
"Come on even people like Issei" "Hey!" "Don't deserve to be beaten to death with a shinai"
"Really?" with an eye raised "what if he was peeping at the girls in your archery club like Sakura hmm?"
He briefly considered the idea before turning to look at the trio who from some reason decided to back away slowly….strange
"Hey come on Shirou" Ise said nervously "we would never do something like that we know that Sakura is yours"
"Mine?" confusion set in Shirou "Sakura just a friend, though I am glad you wouldn't do something as stupid as that, I'd probably have to do something….."
At this Ise remembered what Shirou did to Shinji when that jerk apparently hurt Sakura. He wasn't anything like that guy but he definitely didn't want to get on Shirou's bad side, beware the nice ones indeed….
Seeing the pervert trio scared by Shirou, Murayama decided to abandon her quest for vengeance from now
'if you idiots every try anything like this again…." With a short flare of her killing intent Murayama and the rest of the club returned back to the club leaving Shirou alone with the perverts
"Whew….thanks a lot Shirou for a moment I thought we were going to get beaten within an inch of our lives" Motohama said in gratitude "in gratitude I will tell you the three sizes of any Kuoh academy girl!"
"And I will share my legendary collection of pictures' followed Matsuda
"You know…. It's exactly that kind of thing that makes you guys end up in those situations you should probably tone it down"'
"Tone it down….."Ise repeat shocked "how dare you, our acts are fuelled by our manly passion! It is our dream! To abandon that dream in the face of adversity would be to deny ever being a man in the first place!"
At these words Shirou Emiya found himself face with a will and desire so strong and intense that it made him back away and what's more it seemed to empower the other two of the idiot perverts and give the trio a presence that Shirou had struggled to withstand
His power fading, he utilized a weapon so powerful that he hesitated to use, but it was the only way to prevail
"Your words are powerful but the fact remains that your actions have prevented all of you from having a girlfriend and fulfilling those desires!"
At the power of Shirou's ultimate weapon both Matsuda and Motohama instantly succumbed, falling to the ground tears in their eyes unable to deny the truth of his words
To Shirou's shock however Ise seemed to be immune to his words impossible!
"hahahahaha your weapon is powerful Shirou, even a week earlier I would have been defeated but now I am immune because I Hyoudou Issei" He proclaimed with his head majestically facing the sky "have a girlfriend!'
At these impossible words a blow struck Shirou in a place he had never been hit before, his pride as a man
"It can be" he said struggling to deny those words
"it is' Ise said cruelly" her name is Yuuma Amano and we're going on our first date tomorrow….and what more" dealing the final blow "she was the one who asked me out!"
Shirou could not withstand this. Even if romance was never an important thing in his eyes, for Issei Hyoudou, a man who was a famed pervert to get a girlfriend before him seemed to be wrong and made him question the universe and its inner workings. It was like God was dead and chaos reigned on his place.
His legs shaking, Shirou stumbled towards the school building "you have won this round Ise, I…I wish you happiness in your relationship"
"I'm sorry Shirou" he said solemnly "as a former single man I did not wish to use such a weapon but your words pushed me, I hope you can forgive me"
He did not respond but he gave a short nod before entering the building
With a sigh at what he was forced to do, Ise turned around to face the wrath of his friends who had recovered and were now preparing to punish this man who dared to get a girlfriend before them. He knew the price he would pay for revealing his hidden weapon and accepted it gladly.
Later that day after school had ended Shirou began walking to archery club still a little depressed over the fact that frickin Ise got a girlfriend before him, I mean he liked the guy but come on it was ISE.
His mental grumbling quickly halted however when two strong smells reached him. He knew what they were. There were quite a few of them at Kuoh Academy after all but this smell was that of the two strongest members at this school the smell of total destruction and charred ozone.
He turned the corner to see them Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima both high class devil with power that a magi like couldn't touch, not that he had anything against them .Before his father passed away he told him about the three factions and how there were decent people and pricks in each group. He said that in the devil hierarchy the Gremory Family were extremely powerful but generally ok people as long as you don't hurt those under their protection.
For powerful devils the two of them seemed to be generally easy going girls which is why he was surprised that he could smell them from a distance when they normally suppressed their powers. What could have grabbed their attention so heavily that they would let their power seep out like that?
His surprise increased when he saw that they were looking at Issei going home, he worried as attracting the attention of such powerful people could mean bad things for his classmate.
He began to think about what their action could mean when a hand suddenly hit his back "Staring at girls so openly? I thought you were above that Emiya-san"
He groaned mentally as he turned to face Rin Tohsaka who had drawn the attention of Rias and Akeno to him.
"Oh" Akeno said with a sly smile on her face "I have no problem if someone wishes to admire me Tohsaka-san" which Tohsaka responded with a perfect smile that for some reason gave him shivers.
Now that Akeno was closer he could identify a strange scent mixed in with her ordinary devil aroma, he could not be certain but he began to wonder if she was a nonhuman who had been turned into a devil instead of a pureblood like he assumed, this wasn't too strange but why did this scent seem familiar?
Shirou then realized with a certain dread that he had somehow become the centre of a confrontation between the number 2 and 3 top girls in Kuoh Academy. In terms of looks, grace and poise the two were generally considered equal though Rin's kindly manner endeared more people to her.
However the distance between 2 and 3 was short for one very important reason
"After all I have more than most for some to admire"
Yeah, that reason
At these words Tohsaka's smile did not break though she did begin to emit a dark aura that did not seem magical in nature but still scared the heck out of Shirou
He then remembered what his best friend Issei, no not that one, Issei Ryuudou told him about Tohsaka, that behind her perfect school girl idol hid a darkness. He said the same about Akeno but that she was more open about it than Rin but people just ignored it.
On Rias he just said that while she was different somehow, her behaviour was completely genuine. Honestly now that he thought about it his friend was extremely perceptive even for a psychic, he should probably going into a field like psycholo
*SLAP*
Shirou was suddenly jolted out his thinking with a blow to the back of head from an even more peeved Tohsaka and even Akeno seemed a bit put out from some reason.
"Are you ignoring us Emiya-kun" "yes that is most ungentlemanly of you to do when two lady are talking with you"
Desperately he looked for salvation and his eyes landed on Rias who looked at the trio with amusement on her face. Imploringly his eyes begged to be rescued but sadly the devil can give no salvation and trying can only further damn you.
"Oh could it be it was not me you were admiring but Rias-san?" Akeno asked with a gasp he was sure was fake
"Humph my opinion of you keeps on falling Emiya" snarked Tohsaka
Trying to ignore Rin which was hard to do as the darkness from the corner of his eye seemed to grow with every passing second. Shirou came up with a plan it was not a good plan. It was blatantly obvious but at least it would end this slow torture
'Oh I'm late for archery practice Captain Ayako will probably be angry at me, well this was nice but I got to go" with a speed that he hoped seemed natural and not that of a man escaping certain doom. He went in the direction of the Archery Club though as he turned the corner he saw the two girls with very dangerous smiles, Tohsaka's promising pain unimaginable and Akeno's with a kind of sadistic glee.
Thankful that at least for now the pain was over he went to the one girl he knew would never torture him like that.
Archery Clubroom
Envision the arrow leaving the bow and striking the bull's eye and it will happen
That was the mentality that Emiya had trained at this club for years and honestly he knew he had perfected it, the only problem was that he was unable to complete the vision without the day's events bothering him.
"What's wrong Emiya? You never take this long to make a shot" asked Ayako Misuduri "could it be even you have off days?"
"Of course I have off days, I'm still human. Some stuff just happened today that making it difficult to concentrate "
"Must be some stuff to throw you off, I can't remember the last time you actually missed a shot"
"Just be calm Sempai and relax even if you miss it's not like it's an important shot" said Sakura in a soothing voice
Sakura the girl he had known for most of his life and the closest thing he had to younger sister, he appreciated that she was trying to help him, the problem was….
"It's not that I can't make the shot I just need to complete the image but stuff keep cluttering my mind, if I don't complete the image before attempting , I'm not doing archery I'm just playing with a bow"
With a sigh Ayako replied "Honestly you take this more seriously than everyone else in the club combined, I'll never understand why you don't want to take the captainship"
"I like doing archery but I don't want to be tied up with helped the archery club"
"You help everyone who asks already so why not make it official" asked Ayako not pushing but curious as to his reasoning.
With a pause before relaxing and lowering the bow Shirou turned to Ayako and Sakura with a contemplative look on his face.
"Honestly, I've never really thought about it, I guess I just don't want to be in a position where I have to help someone because I'm beholden to them, I want to help them because I want to. It may not make much sense but that what I feel."
"Huh sounds like you're trying to be one of those wandering heroes in manga just blowing into town one day and saving those who need saving…still that's a lonely path Shirou those type of guy never seem to stay to enjoy their rewards"
For a moment Shirou looked at Ayako absorbing her words before turning to face the target once again, smoothly he brought the bow up notched an arrow and the girls heard muttered words that for some reason brought an inexplicable shiver to those listening.
"…..hav…n… regrets…on…path"
With that he released his arrow
There is no need to say the result
Shirou and Sakura walked home, Sakura silently enjoying the company of her sempai while Shirou though about the day's event.
Rin and Akeno's confrontation, the devils' strange observation of Ise, Ayako's words about his ideals and once again that Ise had somehow gotten a girlfriend before him, honest it shouldn't bother him so much but still ISE.
With a sigh Shirou shook his head abandoning his contemplations
"Are you hoping to get those things cluttering your head loose sempai" said Sakura with a small smile
With a grin he replied 'yeah but they seem to be stuck in there pretty well"
"Perhaps you should talk about it"
He had no intention of telling someone unrelated in the world of magic about his worries about the devils and their behaviour leaving only the problems with girls
"Sempai? Are there any problems I could help with?"
Still a bit distracted he answered" not unless you know where I can get a gi…"
With a jolt he realized what he was going to say and all of his instincts on dealing with the female gender told him stop before something very bad happened.
His instincts on these types of matters were not very strong. Frankly they were pathetic to the point of non-existence so the very fact that he could feel them made Shirou wary and decide to follow them and shut up before he said something that would end his short life
He continued their walk in silence which confused Sakura but she decided raising questions would just make the situation more awkward
As they reached the parting point she turned to him and said "I hope you can tell me about your problems later Sempai, it's strange to see you worrying so much"
Shirou was silent for a moment before giving Sakura a sheepish grin and saying "I hope I can tell you about it someday too, sorry for worrying you. I won't let these things get to me after all I always have you to talk to if things get difficult"
At his words Sakura suddenly turned around "I'm….glad sempai" and began walking home without another word
Staring at his friend and her strange behaviour all Shirou could think "just another weird thing to end this troublesome day" before heading home and hoping Taiga-nee wasn't going to be a problem before groaning as he realized that he hadn't restocked his food supplies which meant a hungry tiger would be rampaging in his house
'how troublesome"
Examining the shelves of his local supermarket for the best supplies, Shirou briefly wondered about the logic of his sister-figure Taiga Fujimura and how apparently not sating her enormous appetite meant that he had to prepare double serving for the next 2 weeks.
He liked cooking but Taiga always seemed to be pushing it, still he loved her and she was always easy to understand, as long as Shirou kept her fed and entertained her she was no trouble.
He briefly questioned why his guardian was more like a troublesome pet than an authority figure, as he checked out his groceries but decided that the benefits of their relationship likely exceeded the cons.
Albeit he actually didn't know what those benefits were but still there had to be some
With a groan he lifted the bags of groceries and was making his way home as the sun was going down when once more the familiar smell came to him
Unlike Akeno's however this scent was not mixed with a devil.
While he normally avoided those of the moonlit world, this smell was something that was familiar to him, like that of a something long buried but the only non-human's he had met were the devils.
Feeling that this was something he could not ignore, Shirou followed the scent towards a park that was away from the town to see someone he didn't except to see at all.
Seriously what was going on with Issei?
Devils were checking up on him and now he was with some nonhuman?
Then he noticed the way Issei was acting nervous but not like he was trying to hit on the girl but more like…..
"Her name is Yuuma Amano and we're going on our first date tomorrow"
Was this nonhuman Yuuma?
Heart rate increasing and mind processing, he realized that since Rias was probably the second owner of New Fugiki, she would probably be aware of any nonhumans in the vicinity
Did she became aware of Issei's involvement with a nonhuman and decided to keep an eye on her junior? The Gremory's were famed for being overprotective after all.
Slowly he began to calm his heart rate, if she knew what was going on then, this girl probably wasn't a probl…..
His heart stopped
Wings
Black like a raven
That scent wasn't just that of a nonhuman but of one very well-known type
Fallen
Without realizing It, Shirou had already began racing towards the two, instinctively reinforcing his legs to close the distance faster
No fallen would be in territory controlled by a devil on a date, especially not one controlled by the Gremory
Which meant only thing
A mission
Most likely
His thoughts were cut off and fears realized when a spear of light appeared in Yumma's hand, with a leap he closed the distance and tackled Ise
"Oww what the hell's going on? Shirou?" already shocked by Yumma's wings and her words to him Ise Hyoudou was understandable baffled at his classmate tackling him out of nowhere
Then he saw imbedded into the ground where he was just standing was a lance of yellow light buzzing like a chainsaw and Yumma's last words came to him
"Would you die for me"
Legs shaking he rose to his feet to see Yumma pouting at Ise's survival
Earlier he would have found the action cute but now all he could see was the face of someone who would have killed him without blinking and fear enveloped him
"Aw why did you have to interfere, I was just about to finish this annoying job"
Job?
"I'm not one to watch a fallen kill my classmates without doing anything"
Issei watched his classmate face his killer girlfriend with a look on his face like that he had when he punched Shinji for hurting…..
Wait….am I the Sakura in this?
This random and frankly insulting thought came to Issei before Shirou pulled him out of the way of another of those strange spears
Finding his voice Ise had to ask "Yumma-chan what the hell are you doing"
"My job silly Ise-kun, I was planning on giving you one last day of enjoyment before getting rid of you but this guy had to interfere"
Rising into the air with her black wings, she asked curiosity evident "who are you anyway? You say you Issei classmate but you don't have the aura of a devil, still you know of us and are faster than normal humans"
Then an answer seemed to come to her
"Oh I get it! You must be a magus, I'm surprised that there was an unknown magus in the Gremory territory, our information only mentioned those two girls but I guess you slipped under the radar"
Then with a grin she continued "but you don't think some human teenager can handle me do you? Even with magic"
Shirou grimaced, his magic was even lower than she had assumed, the only thing his father had thought him was basic reinforcement which could only go so far in a fight, if he survived this fight then he could use that but that only if he lived.
Ise on the other hand was wondering if he was having a mental breakdown
On top of everything else that had happened, Shirou Emiya, the fake Janitor who spent his free time helping people was some kind of magician?
Trying to make sense of this Ise asked "why do you need to kill me Yuuma-chan, I've never had anything to do with magic stuff"
"If you have to blame someone, blame god for putting that thing in you, honestly I was trying to make it easy for you but honestly" a cruel smile appeared on her face distorting it" it was so annoying playing around with a little child like you"
At these words Ise felt a horrible pain hit his chest and his eyes started to mist
How…why…his mind tried to make sense of this but the pain in his chest stopped him from concentrating
Shirou saw the effect that the fallen's words had on Ise and felt even more anger fill him and he pushed the reinforcement on his body as high as he safely could
"Listen Ise I know this must suck but we need to focus if we're going to get out of this…..alright?"
Ise turned to Shirou and despite tears in his eyes nodded resolutely
"Ok we need to let's SHIT"
Shirou leap to the side a spear rocketing past his previous location
"Your little friendship moment is cute and all but this has gone on long enough, still why don't you entertain me Magus?
With a mad glee she launched spear after spear at them and while they were not strong, their number and speed was more than enough for her two targets
Most were aimed at Shirou who was dodging her attacks by a hair, but she didn't forget Ise aiming her attacks so that the two couldn't separate and divide her attention further
"HEHEHEHE Come On! Why don't you use some spells and make this interesting before I kill you Magus!"
Shirou didn't respond ducking and weaving in order to avoid getting hit by those hurtling missiles, several times he had to make wild leaps to avoid be skewered
Then her assault paused and she tilted her face perplexedly in a manner that would have been attractive if she wasn't such a psychotic monster
"Seriously why don't you do anything else…wait" with a giggle she continued "can all you do is basic magic reinforcement?"
Silence was all that came from Shirou
The Fallen erupted in laughter
"hahaha Oh I wondered why we didn't know about another magus in this town but you, you're even more pathetic that Issei, at least he hasn't activated his power yet. You're so weak that you're barely better that a regular human"
Issei saw this monster mock the person who had risked his life to save him and the pain that her words brought him began to be suppressed by a another feeling…ANGER
"Still if this is all you've got then I might as well stop playing around and end this now"
At the two's incredulous looks her malicious grin widened even further and she responded to the unasked question with an increased barrage of light spears
SHIT was all Shirou think, not only had the power of her spears increased causing small explosion where they landed, but the speed as well with several of them nicking his sides
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw that gladly Ise was still alive thanks to Yumma still focusing on Shirou
He tried to supress the pain with further reinforcement, risking internal damage by going over what human could safely use but the outcome was obvious
Finally he couldn't sustain it any further, his breath coming out in short gasps
"Oh done already little magus, well for someone so weak I guess you held on as long as you could"
With that she prepared another light spear aiming at the exhausted magus
At this Ise felt the rage grow, as the person…no the friend who help kept him alive this long was about to die
Rushing at Shirou he didn't realize that his left arm was glowing a faint red
As the spear was let loose at his saviour, Issei suddenly felt his speed increase and just before it reach Shirou his instincts took over and he made a final bust of speed and punched it with his left arm
'NO!"
Miraculously the spear of light broke apart under the force of his blow
Shirou watched with shock at Ise's arm and noted that his scent had changed slightly, mixing with what smelt like reptiles
Yumma's words came back to him
"blame God for putting that thing in you"
Was Issei Hyoudou one of those who had been gifted with a Sacred Gear from god?
What more…..one that had gained the attention of the fallen angel faction?
Issei standing in front of him guarding against the Fallen Shirou slowly got up to his feet
If Ise was one of those with a powerful sacred gear then they might actually be able to
"SHUNK"
Faster than he could imagine Yumma appeared in front of then a single spear of light in her hands
Shirou noted that it had gone right through Issei's chest and into his side
Oh
Crap
He distantly heard a voice screaming his name but the pain consumed his consciousness
With a twist, ripping further through their flesh Yumma said in a vaguely disappointed tone
"Sorry but I don't want to be bothered with fighting a Sacred Gear that the higher-ups were worried about, too bad for you guys"
The targets of her words were already collapsed on the ground
Ise, his will already fading, wishing with his final breaths that he did not have such a crappy end.
Shirou, his life blood spilling out could only watch as the fallen flew away without a care after her job was finished.
DAMMIT
Slamming his fist against the ground all Shirou could do was despair as an innocent person had once more died in front of him. He thought that even with his weakness in magic he could help and protect others but he had failed
Even if he could use the artefact inside him to heal his body, did he even deserve to?
He wished….he wished
"Are you the ones who called me?"
He raised his head to see a faint crimson silhouette
The image then cleared up into the form of Rias Gremory
"You guys looks like you got up into something really interesting do you need some help"
Dimly he wondered what she meant, Devils especially one's with the power of destruction weren't known for healing magic unless she had phenex tears
Wait! The Peerage System!
He force himself awake and concentrated his attention to her
"Well Shirou-san what do you think? If you and your friend are dying then, I'll take care of you. Your life will belong to me, and you will live for me"
This deal was the only hope for Ise, with the peerage system, he would get a new life as a devil and would be protected from the fallen by those with much more power than he had
Looking Rias focusing on those blue-green eyes through the pain he gave his response
"Please…make Issei one of your peerage, he's got a strong sacred gear"
Shock was evident in Rias's eye at the knowledge this apparently ordinary second year had, then again ordinary people don't get wrapped up in the affairs of devils
"What are you…wait a magus?"
"Yeah" Shirou replied weakly
He heard her mumbling something about a there being a third at their school before she apparently reached a conclusion
"Are you sure you don't wish to become part of my peerage? Your wounds are potentially lethal even for a magus'
Figuring that there was no point in hiding things at this point he activated the device inside him and felt the calm envelop his body
Rias gasped as a soft golden light began emitting from the wound in Shirou's side
'This feels….holy? But it doesn't hurt….what are you Emiya Shirou?"
The bleeding staunched and the pained dulled, he slowly got up, almost stumbling before Rias stopped him
"Heh just a magus with a few mysteries"
With these words he began stumbling in the direction of his home
"It's a pity Shirou-san, you would have made an interesting pair with Issei-kun"
Turning back to Rias, noting that she was already taking out the chess pieces necessary for the ritual
He replied with "don't worry Ise will be interesting enough for both of us, the idiot even saved my life so I'm sure he'll be a great part of your peerage"
Without waiting for a reply he continued on his path soon swallowed by the shadows
Rias then turned to the boy lying in front of him
"Looks like you've got some pretty loyal friends Issei-kun, I hope you can make those kinds of bonds with your new family as well"
And so the Ruin Princess of Destruction, gave Issei Hyoudou a second life and began his entrance into the moonlit world
Ow...ow...ow...ow
As he dragged his body home, Shirou briefly wondered if maybe he should have accepted Gremory's offer, if only so that this annoying wound would stop throbbing
Avalon may have stopped the bleeding and sharp pain but until he could lie down and focus directly on healing for a few hours, the dull ache would not cease, still the calm and peace that always came with using it helped him persevere
Feeling that he had gotten a far enough distance from the epicentre of this whole mess, Shirou decided to duck into an alley way and spend a little time resting against a wall decompressing
He had failed to keep Ise safe but thankfully the situation did not turn into a worst case scenario, still what was he going to do when he got home? Taiga may be irresponsibly but she was very protective of the people she cared about.
Hell, she might even call some of the Fujimura Yakuza members to investigate who had done this to her precious cook, still if worse came to worse he could hypnotize her and stop her from delving into the world of magic. With a grimace he realized that if he couldn't even protect himself from the dangers of this world, the people around him would always be at risk.
This was the first confrontation with someone from the moonlit world and he only survived because he wasn't her target. Of course he knew that people like Rias and Akeno completely dwarfed him and most magi in power but that fallen only had one set of wings! And she had played around with him
Briefly he considered maybe breaking out that, but the fact was that at his current level in power using it would be a waste and only get the attention of those who his father had tried to protect him from.
His musing were then interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from the end of the alley
A drunk? No…..there were no bars nearby as far as he knew, who?
Then he groaned inwardly as the scent of magic filled his nostrils
'Oh come on! I spent a decade without drawing anyone's attention and now in the same day a fallen, devil and whoever this is find out about me!'
He then noticed that this scent was not mixed with that of a nonhuman…who…..
Then the person stepped into the light and Shirou couldn't stop himself from exclaiming
"Oh God you?!"
"Someone need to teach you how to greet ladies properly Emiya-san"
Rin Tohsaka had stepped in front of the resting magus, her trademark idol smile on her face and Shirou suddenly found himself briefly missed Yuuma, she may have been a psychotic monster but at least she was honest about what she was.
"How did you find me Tohsaka-san"
"Humph, as if any self-respecting magus would miss that power over there. I was on my way to the source when I smelt prana coming from here, still I didn't expect the fake janitor to be a magus…now what happened?"
Shirou remained silent now remembering what the fallen had said about there being two known magi at their school, if Tohsaka was one who was the other?
"The secrecy of magic has to be maintained Shirou, where you doing something dangerous out here in the open? And what was it"
He responded with a sigh "well if you count fight a fallen angel dangerous then yeah"
"A fallen?" she murmured taking a step back, not many magi their age could handle a fallen, even a weak one if Shirou could….."Did you win?"
With a snort "as if….I got my ass handed to me, she didn't even see me as a threat"
"Oh" relaxing, well that was pretty normal even for magi, unless you were talented or had a sacred gear, messing with the three factions was pretty much a road straight to Tartarus
"Well why you fighting a fallen in the first place and what was one of them even doing here?
With a grimace he told her
"She was here to kill Issei" "Ryuudou? Well his father is the head priest but….." "No Hyoudou"
"The pervert? That makes no sense the guy's an idiot"
"Apparently he has a powerful sacred gear….no idea how to even use it but I saw him break a spear of light with a single punch….more than I could do"
"Oh….." looking at Shirou who started to feel depressing over the little use he was and Rin had to sympathize. Sacred gears were a constant annoyance to magi. Since the idea of people who could innately do things that normal magecraft couldn't replicate and without even studying, went against everything Magi did in their search for power and don't get her started on the Longinus types…
"Well that just what Magi have to deal with Emiya-kun….still I'm surprised someone like Ise could beat a fallen
"Beat?" Shirou looked up at Rin's face "Ha….before he could even full activate it she stabbed a spear of light in his chest, in comparison I got off light" gesturing at the wound in his side
Rin felt her eyes widen first at the news of a fellow student's death then at where he was pointing at, how did she not notice that?! It wasn't bleeding but still, how could Emiya walk around with his side torn open
Bending down she took one of her jewels from his satchel and held it against the open wound
"What are you?"
"Just hold on idiot what you were thinking getting in a fight with a fallen"
The gem disappeared in a flash of light and Emiya watched in awe and a bit of envy as his wound and the blood disappeared.
"Huh so this is what a real magus can do" he said gingerly placing his hand on the newly regenerated flesh" thanks Tohsaka-san"
"A real magus…?" Tohsaka queried
"All I can do is some reinforcement, I'm useless at everything else maybe if I had more talent I could have protected Issei….."
Rin didn't know what to say…to try and protect someone only to watch them die in front of you. Even if she thought that Shirou was a fool for getting in a fight with a fallen with only reinforcement, she certainly wasn't going to bring that up. Especially right after he watched a classmate…
Taking a breath he continued "well I hope he recovers alright"
A these words Rin found herself almost losing her balance and falling to the ground
"Recovers?! I thought you said he took a light spear to the chest"
"Well yeah but then Gremory-san came by and offered to make us part of her peerage, I passed on it but it was Ise's only hope, they were beginning the ritual when I left then….didn't I mention that"
"No" Rin snarked infuriatingly "you left that part out, great another devil at the school and what's more it's a pervert with a sacred gear. Hah I can't believe she got there before me though it's embarrassing"
"Embarrassing?" Shirou repeated confused "why would you be embarrassed, she's the town's second owner so it's pretty much her job to take care of these things before anyone else…."
Shirou's confusion grew as instead of agreeing with his words, Rin began to emit a familiar ominous black cloud.
"E-Mi-Ya-San who exactly is the second owner of New Fuyuki?"
"Uuh" wondering if he had made a mistake in his conclusion Shirou decided to explain his reasoning to Rin in hopes of calming her down "Is...Isn't it the Gremory's? I mean they've invest a lot of money into the town, protect it and I don't think there's anyone stronger in the area?"
His reasoning however did not calm her down, instead that dark cloud only grew and that smile oh god that smile
"Listen Emiya, the ownership of this land has and always will be in the hands of a certain family, one who has protected this land long before devils and the rest of them showed up and do you know who that family is….?"
"Ah…sorry? I didn't really know about anyone powerful in the area apart from the Gremory and the Sitri clan, so I kind of assumed that one of them had the position" what else could he say? He didn't even know there were other magi in New Fuyuki before today and he too tired to try and placate her, honestly he just wanted to get home and sleep this off like a bad hangover
While Tohsaka was peeved that this idiot magus didn't even know who the rightful second owner was, she was aware enough of his current condition to know that berating him now was pointless
"Haah you're lucky I'm a nice person Emiya, come on that healing would off taken up a lot of your body's energy. I help take you home" she said supporting his drained body with his arm over her shoulder and taking him to the residential district
"You wouldn't be so tired if you had accepted Germory's offer, why did you turn her down anyway? Becoming a devil would raise your magic and the Gremory are one of the most supportive clans."
"Well it's not like I have anything against devils I just don't want to be affiliated with any of the three factions, it would be annoying if I had to fight just because that guy's a fallen or that person's a priest"
"Huh, that understandable I guess, most magi do something like that but you got involved in a fight with a fallen and our school is affiliated with the devils, so aren't you pretty much already part of their side? I'm the second owner so I'm expected to be associated with all non-humans in the area but you're just a regular magus"
Pausing for a moment he gave his explanation "The difference I guess would be that while most magi try to avoid factions out of fear, I don't want to hide from them. If a fallen, devil or even an angel is doing something I find wrong I want to be able to stop them.
"But..." Rin paused not wishing to bring this up right after he failed to protect some but she steeled herself "You're not strong enough, maybe if you were a talented mage you could take care of stray devils, fallen and things like that but right now…"
Shirou stopped once again and took his arm off Rin's shoulder "Emiya…"
"It's alright Tohsaka, we're pretty close to my house I can make it from here"
"Idiot that healing would have drain all your….energy" Rin paused as from the battered teen came a soft golden light like a nimbus covering his body and his face previously tired and weak became peaceful
"What…what is that? A sacred gear?"
"You're right, I am weak but I have something to help me continue my path." turning to face her one last time with a smile "And seriously thank you for your help Tohsaka you really are a good person you know"
With these words he left her wondering about how many secrets Emiya Shirou had and why his parting words made her face feel red
As he head home hoping that he wouldn't run into anymore revelations he wondered what would come next, maybe Ayako would appear revealing that she's half elemental or maybe Ryuudou would be a Onmyoji honestly at this point who knows
These worries were unfounded as no more obstacles come to block his path, however one fear remained and it resided in his home. The Emiya residence was an uncommon style of housing for this day and age and it was clearly far too large for one person. Even when Kiritsugu was alive most of the rooms went unused.
This however was unimportant to Shirou as bracing himself, our hero went to face his eternal foe, the tiger of Fugimura.
"Shiroooou!" with a youthful exuberance that would have made another athletic beast envious of her flames of youth, Taiga Fujumura made her entrance wrapping her arms around Shirou's neck squeezing, arguable endangering his life more than the fallen did
"How dare you make me wait for my foooood! I did raise you to be so mean!"
"Sorry Fuji-nee" squeaked Emiya as he tried to get her arms off his throat "but I can't make you any dinner today"
"AGAIN?! Whaa don't you love me anymore Shirou" she cried tightening her death grip on her throat and actually forcing him to reinforce it slightly.
'Sorry but some stuff happened and I lost the groceries I bought so we going to have to get some takeout today as well"
"Stuff?" finally releasing her death grip on him, she began to take in her cooking slave's appearance "What happened Shirou! Your clothes are all dirty and torn"
"yeah" he said sheepishly, his masterful excuse already memorized "I was walking home when I started chatting with someone form school, but I kinda wasn't paying attention and fell down some stairs"
"You fell down some stairs?" "Yeah?"
Taiga paused for a moment before then put her hands on his shoulder and looking him in the eyes
"Shirou…how gullible do you think I am"
Resisting the urge to say 'extremely' and wondering how his genius excuse didn't work. Shirou instead replied "wha what do you mean Fuji-nee? I did fall down, my clothes got all messed up" silently he was thankful that his fight with the fallen was so low-key. If it had been a more physical fight he wouldn't be able to explain away the tell-tale bruises.
Instead he just happen to explain why some parts of his clothes where dirty and torn from dodging Yumma's lights spears "I mean Tohsaka can tell you, I mean she helped me get up afterwards…"
At this new information Taiga suddenly blinking breaking there importune staring contest "Tohsaka? You mean Rin wait…." Then a grin light up her face "Shirou were you with a giiiiirl"
Feeling that this was going to bring up a whole new mess of problems Shirou squeezed the bridge of his nose
"I was not with a giiiirl, I know Tohsaka as just someone from school and we were talking when I tripped while going down the stairs. Honestly it's my fault, I bought too much stuff because of the double serving thing and wasn't paying attention.
"Oh" Fujimura said softly, her fun ruined since she hated the idea of her being responsible for his pain "are you okay…is there any pain"
Feeling a bit guilty about making Fuji-nee sad, Shirou took a breath and tried to raise her spirits
"I'm fine Fuji-nee, all the pain disappeared on the way back and I should be back to making you meals by tomorrow"
"Well don't push yourself Shirou, Sakura can take care of the cooking if need be….."
"I'm fine Fuji-nee, it was just an accident" he said and then imitating her exuberance "Come on do you think the disciple of Taiga Fujimura would be brought low by a flight of stairs?"
Her face told him that she knew what he was doing but still she seemed to cheer up and after they ate some takeout (out of his pocket of course) she was back to normal.
Later Shirou went to bed thinking about everything, his life was going to change there was no doubt about that. After years of concealing his identity as magus from everyone, in one day a magus, high-ranking devil and a fallen had found out. He hoped none of them would find out about his father, then he would be royally screwed.
The worst part however was how useless he had been, he thought with Avalon he would be able to push himself harder than other mages could, confident that afterwards Avalon would be able to heal him. While the speed of Avalon was lower than other healing items when he activated it, his stamina recovered quickly and it was able to heal on a more thorough degree than any other.
Despite this, as long as he was physically weak even if he could survive protecting others would be beyond his reach. Frustrated he tried to think how he could push himself further, even when he reinforced his body to its limits, he had only been able to avoid Yuuma's attack not make his own. Maybe if he got his hands on a magic blade he could use it to attack but any strong ones were both rare and expensive, even if he used some of Kiritsugu's reserves it might not be enough.
But….but what if he used reinforcement while activating Avalon?
His body had a natural reinforcement limit and going over that had cause serious pain in the past but Avalon suppressed pain, he knew that pain was a warning but with Avalon could he safely go over that limit and close the gap between normal humans and nonhumans?
It would heal the damage caused by over reinforcement while supressing the distracting pain and Avalon was not a costly item to use prana-wise. Was this the path to the strength he needed? He would need to find someone to practice against but the possibility of a solution that would allow him to follow his path was enough to ease Shirou's mind and allow him to fall asleep.
With a land of green beauty and peace she waited, her master had been deaf to her calls before, even when she cried with all her might as he was struck down by that wretched fallen.
Still his first battle had taught him things that study could not and now he was slowly reaching the truth about how to use Avalon and its nature. So she waited for the time when she and her master could meet and she could guide him to fulfil Avalon's purpose and also so that she could keep her promise.
"Do not worry Kiritsugu your son will not fall down the same path you and I did, he will be able to find his own peace, his own Utopia"
Ise Hyoudou was honestly wondering if he was having a mental breakdown. After waking up in his bed after a weird dream where his girlfriend tried to kill him and he was saved by Emiya, who was some kind of magician he just though he ate some bad curry but this?
No one seemed to remember Yumma, not his parents or even his friends who he introduced her to after they wouldn't believe him about having a girlfriend. He thought it was so kind of messed up joke but they honestly didn't seem to remember her, even when he tried to trip them up by mentioning her casually in conversation.
The only reaction he got was confusion and question about whether he was ok. Did Yumma really not exist? Ever since he had that dream about their date though his body had changed, becoming stronger in the night to the point where he could probably beat the school's top athletes but lethargic in the day leaving him too tired to even get excited about porn. What the hell was going on?
There was one other person he could ask, the only other person who had been there when Yuuma had turned into that THING and broken his heart. He refrained from doing so because he didn't want to have Shirou thinking he was crazy talking about girlfriends with black wings and magic but he need to know!
After school had ended he made up his mind and was waiting outside the archery club and waiting for Shirou to show up, what wound he ask Shirou? He couldn't just start taking about the weird stuff right away...no he would first bring up Yumma if he was right and Emiya knew what was going on than he could finally get some answers
"Hyoudou-san?"
Ise turned around to see Sakura Matou looking at him from the archery club entrance
"Why are you waiting here" she asked in a suspicious tone
Honestly you peek in one changing room (per day) and suddenly you're labelled, not that he regretted his choice as a man but he was just here to talk to Emiya so it kinda of annoyed him
"Hi Matou-san I just needed to talk to Emiya about something" "you need to talk to Senpai?"
Two things struck Ise, one why did Shirou get a Senpai and not him and two, for some reason his explanation seemed to worry Sakura, Ise was a bit self-aware that some people didn't like to associate with them but her reaction seemed to be a bit strange too him
"Yeah some stuff happened over the weekend and I think Emiya could help me figure it out"
At this she seemed to reach some kind of understanding and also strangely resignation "Okay Hyoudou-san I just hope you don't get Sempai into any trouble" with these words he went back into the clubroom still worrying about something
A few minutes later Emiya showed up and Ise hoped that he could give him some answers
"Hey Emiya-kun, I need to talk to you" He seemed to be a bit worried at my words
"Did Gremory send you" he asked "Gremory-sempai? Why would she send me we don't even know each other, I wanted to talk about Yumma"
His words just seemed to confuse Shirou and his face as well as his hopes of finally get some answers fell
"I guess you don't remember either, thanks anyway Emiya"
"Wait Ise what going on" he asked holding onto Ise's arms
Fed up about not getting any answers he retorted with "Nothing apart from no one remembering my girlfriend" with this he stormed off until two words stopped him "You mean Amano?"
"Huh?!" "Isn't that the name you told us on Friday? But I doubt that's her real name"
"Wait Shirou you remember her?"
"Of course I remember her, did she explain anything to you?" She? Who is he talking about and what the hell is going on?
The tension that was in him seemed to fade away and Shirou said "just tell me what going on Ise" So he did, about how no one else remember Yuuma which Shirou didn't seem to find strange and then about how this all happened after a strange dream about their first date. He didn't go into detail about the dream but Shirou seemed to understand
"Okay the first thing is that Yuuma Amano was real even if that wasn't her real name, what more that was not a dream Ise that stuff really did happen"
What!? But I died!" "Yeah and I got my side torn open still that was reality but you got saved Ise"
"Saved? Was it you?" at this he snorted and a kind of depression seemed to come over him
"No I'm not strong enough to save people yet" then he looked at the new devil and seemed to reach some kind of conclusion "Listen Ise I'm really not the person who should be telling you about this kind of stuff, but there is someone who should come and see you soon and they're the one who saved you and who can explain everything to you, if I was to tell you they might think I was trying to influence you or something so just be patient"
This kind of annoyed Ise but he was still happy that all that crazy stuff that was happening wasn't just him going crazy even if it meant that his girlfriend was some kind of monster and not…even his girlfriend in the first place
"Alright thank for the help Emiya-kun' he said before turning to go home
"Call me Shirou, and Ise?" "Yeah?" "Just a bit of advice, I may not have the power to save people yet but you do"
Confused he looked back to see Shirou looking at him intensely "what do you mean?"
"Don't you remember about that night? About how you protected me from that attack"
Dimly he did remember about a moment when his mind went blank with anger and he punched something but that was overshadowed when Yuuma stabbed him, he looked at his left arm while unconsciously rubbing his chest for the non-existent wound. What was that?
"You have a power Ise, I don't know what it is but if you can learn how to use it consciously you can defend yourself from those like Yuuma , try and remember how you felt when you used it last time"
With this he head towards the club entrance with a subtle look of depression still on his face, he didn't know why but he called out
"Shirou!"
Surprised he turned back to face Ise "Yeah?"
"Um" He didn't know what to say so he decide to just wing it "listen I don't really know what happened that night but thank you, seriously, I may not have survived long enough for whoever it was to come and heal me if you didn't step in and help me with Yuuma and now you're helping me even though it may cause even more trouble for you so thank you for saving me"
At this that depression faded and a truly grateful smile replaced it "Thank you Ise, glad to know I could help"
'Honestly what kind of crappy luck do I have' Ise thought as he dodged another one of those spears of light, on the way back he met a weird guy who called him a stray and revealed the same kind of wings that Yuuma had. Honestly if he wasn't already aware about people like that and their freaking spears 'what did Shirou call her back then? Fallen?' he would have been hit and he had no intention of going through that again
"Interesting…even if I'm holding back you seem to be wary of my attacks, still I wonder if you can dodge this!
With a speed that easily surpassed what he did before a spear of light hurtled at him too fast to evade
'Was this my end?….NO! I refuse! I've already died once thanks to her! At this memory of Yuuma, the anger…no FURY that he felt when she tried to kill his friend came rushing back and as Ise's hand glowing once more with an awesome power, he reached out at that spear of death
AND
He
CAUGHT
IT
Issei stared for a moment at the impossible feat he accomplished before he felt his hand burning at the touch at the spear's light forcing him to throw it away.
He looked back at that Fallen who looked at him with even more curiosity "Ah I see…a scared gear wielder most interesting"
Sacred Gear? He look at his arm to see the glow on the left arm had formed into a red gauntlet with a jewel on the part that covers the back of his hand. Then Ise then remembered what Yuuma and Shirou had said about him having a special power. With this he would be able to fight these fallen without being protected
"Still I guess I'll just get serious" at this the killing intent he had emitted when they first met skyrocketed and Ise knew that even if he did have some special power he wasn't ready for someone like this. This thing was a killer, a monster and he was just a teenager. Then as the fallen dived at him at an incredible speed, an explosion suddenly came between them halting his attack
"I would appreciate it if you would stop bothering my junior"
Ise turned his had to see that the person who apparently saved him and his first impression was of Crimson, deeper and more beautiful that any colour he had ever seen. She walked towards them and stood in front of him as if to say that this person was under her protection
"Crimson hair…and that power... Gremory?"
"Yes Mr Fallen I am Rias of the house of Gremory and if you try to hurt this child I will not refrain from ending you"
"Fufufufu... Well, well. So this boy belongs to you. So this town is also your territory, huh? Well then. For today I will apologize. But I recommend you not let your servant loose. People like me might slay him while walking by."
"Thanks for the advice. This town is under my surveillance, so if you get in my way again then I won't hold back."
"I would say the same to you, Heir of the Gremory House. My name is Dohnaseek. I hope we won't meet again."
With this the fallen flew into the sky quickly becoming just a speck as he left the two of them
"Gremory-Senpai?" asked Issei confused at being rescued by the school's top idol with snow white skin and beautiful crimson hair
She turns to looks at her new pawn with surprise as she never expected him to do so well against a fallen, sure she had to step in and protect her junior but…
"I must say I'm impressed, to not only get through you first real clash with a fallen unharmed but even awakening your sacred gear, it seems I've made a fine choice"
For a moment Ise was utterly lost, too many weird things were happening and honestly he just couldn't adjust fast enough. Then he remembered what his conversation with Shirou, he didn't think much about it at the time but didn't he mention Gremory-senpai? And he did say someone would come and explain things to him…was Senpai the one who…
"Are…are you the one who healed me on Saturday Gremory-senpai?" he asked nervously, he wasn't sure what Senpai was but considering that Dohnaseek ran away the moment he saw her, she probably wasn't human like him.
Rias' blue-green eyes widened a bit, she didn't expect him to reach that conclusion. Instead she assumed he would try and pass those events off as a dream, and it seemed a bit strange for him to deduce the answer so quickly. Her curiosity about her new pawn rose even further.
Folding her arms and studying him she asked "tell me Issei-kun how you reached that conclusion" Making it clear that he had to answer
"W…well a friend told me that the person who healed me would come soon and explain what was going on and I thought it might be you"
Rias thought that it was nice that he was trying to hide the person who told him but still as a member of her peerage he couldn't be trying to hide secrets from her, so with a sigh she decided to set him straight from now.
"And would this friend be Emiya-kun?"
Ise turned pale; one, because he didn't want to anger the person who brought him back to life and two, Shirou was his friend and if Gremory-Senpai thought he was a danger he could get seriously hurt
"P…Please sempai don't hurt Shirou, he was just trying to help me"
"Calm down Issei-kun I don't have any problem with Shirou, but you shouldn't try to hide things from me and other members of my peerage" "Peerage?" he asked confused
"I'll explain later, just tell me what Emiya told you, did he explain what happened that night"
"Well I went to him to find out answers since everything that happened seemed like a crazy dream, but he told me that it was real and that like I said, that the person who healed me would come and explain everything" "is that all?" "He also told me that if I could defend myself from people like that Donnaseige if I learned to use this power and gave me some hints" he said gesturing with the gauntlet on his arm
Rias thought about what he said, it wasn't surprising that Ise would go Emiya for advice even though she wanted him to have some time to adapt to his changes.
Emiya's advice was probably a serious boon since it helped Ise activate his sacred gear and avoid that fallen's attacks but still that boy troubled her since she had no idea he was a magus and what more, he was one with some strange kind of holy magic.
She still remembered it's calm, soothing feeling which was strange since holy magic was supposed to hurt devils, even most holy healing magic had detrimental effects on them but not that soft golden light…She would need to investigate him further but for now she had to help Issei.
" I will have to thank Emiya-kun for his advice since it help protect my cute little junior" she said with a beautiful smile, hugging her new pawn to Ise's joy since his friend wouldn't end up in danger, allowing him to enjoy the feel of Senpai's chest fully.
"When you get to school tomorrow I can explain everything to you and would you mind bringing Emiya along with you, I would like to get to know the two of you better"
'Yes it time for Emiya-kun to meet the heirs of Gremory and Sitri in a more…professional manner'
Authors Notes
Hi everyone while I first posted On Burning Wings, this was actually my first dive into fanfiction. Combining the depressing Nasuverse with lighthearted HDxD to make something that hopefully does not suck. Please Review and say if you think I should continue
NOW SPOLIERS
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First off, the holy grail war in this universe is completely different as you can tell, no summoning heroic spirits to fight in a battle for the death instead it's an actual secret war between highranking magi which I will go more into if the series progresses. Also Noble Phantasms, yes they will exist as you can tell by Avalon, but more like the holy artifacts like Excalibur with the spirits of their original wielders (i.e. Heroic Spirits) in them similar Draig and Albion and NO Shirou will not be able to do conventional tracing or the nasu UBW. I plan to have him go through a more ordinary progression in terms of power so he won't be OP for now, though he will become a faker of sorts.
The first couple arcs I've planned will be from HDxD but other fate characters will show up as well and in terms of romance, their harems will mostly stay the same and though a couple of Issei's may become close to Shirou, I plan for it to be more of a camaraderie/family sort of deal than actual romance. So yeah how you guys enjoy and review this short prologue, if you have any criticisms be detailed and harsh as you wish but not rude, I mostly interesting in hearing about my language and if anyone what to beta for me please PM .If anyone has any suggestions for new NPs and their spirits please feel free PM me with the details as I am not that knowledgeable about myths and heroes excluding the Greek and would gladly accept ideas. PLEASE REVIEW